Good Morning Dog

Go Stros!!! One of the biggest lures Houston has had for me, after moving from the hill country, is that the Home of the Astros, Minute Maid Park ball park, actually has SOY DOGS! I was in pure heaven when, while at my first Astros game, my husband surprisingly brought me back an actual ball park hot dog! I haven't been able to partake in this American tradition in....EVER! So Houston immediately went up in hot dog brownie points.

Oh. I'm pretty sure we lost that game. Against the Red Sox maybe? Was there a game even going on??? Errr....sorry, but I was too busy documenting everything in my mind about this momentous occasion of me eating a hot dog...at a baseball game!

OMG - anyway, I had come across an article in the Vegetarian Times magazine that gave me the Good Morning Dog idea. Pure holy yumminess is the only way I can describe it....plus if you use the veggie dogs and veggie bacon like me, there is more protein than fat, and who doesn't like that???

*You can obviously replace the veggie dog and veggie bacon with the real stuff for this breakfast, but why do that???? ;)

Good Morning Dog
TRUST ME!    THESE. ARE. AWESOME.
You'll need: a vegetarian hot dog, unsalted butter, vegetarian bacon strips, an egg, American cheese, and a whole wheat hot dog bun

1) Spray a skillet with PAM (or whatever cooking spray you use). Slice the hot dog(s) lengthwise and grill both sides.
I like to use the panini grill to get both sides evenly grilled at the same time.


2) Heat 1 tbsp butter over medium-high heat and cook the "bacon" according to whichever-brand-you-are-using's directions. Put aside.

3) Add another 1 tbsp of butter to the skillet and reduce heat to medium to fry your egg. Flip your egg (when it's firm enough to be flipped) and cook for another minute.
*If you are using EggBeaters like me, 1/4 cup = 1 egg.

4) Toast the hot dog bun. (I literally just put mine in the toaster)

5) Add a slice of cheese to the top of the egg. When the cheese gets nice and "melty" (thanks to the use of Taco Bell's lovely descriptive, almost poetic terms in their advertisements, my vocabulary keeps expanding), move the egg into the hot dog bun.

6) Add a couple strips of "bacon" on the egg. Put the dog on top of the bacon, and then wrap the bun around it and enjoy!

These are so good and so filling. One is enough for me and that will get me through breakfast AND lunch. Whenever I have make these for breakfast, I always think that Adam from Man vs. Food will appear and attempt to eat 20 of these in 30 minutes. Maybe because it reminds of the types of things he eats on the show or maybe because it reminds me of my fantasy of having him over, forcing him to stay and then replacing him myself as the host...